Goodwill Industries - Suncoast Inc.

Goodwill's BookWorks program brings together volunteer readers and children from low-income households to promote childhood literacy. Volunteers read to preschool children at Head Start centers and other locations and then present each child with a book of their own to take home. This Goodwill Industries-Suncoast program reaches children in six counties in West Central Florida: Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, Polk and Marion.

BookWorks is designed to instill a love of books and reading and to encourage self-sufficiency. As a provider of welfare transition services in West Central Florida, Goodwill-Suncoast has seen first-hand the effects that illiteracy has on adults. The ultimate goal of BookWorks is to break the cycle of illiteracy to help children succeed in tomorrow's workforce. Because early childhood literacy is linked to later employability, BookWorks supports Goodwill-Suncoast's mission of helping people achieve their full potential through the dignity and power of work.

For more information, call Goodwill-Suncoast's community relations coordinator, Jinnie Kerdi at (727) 523-1512, extension 1013, or e-mail volunteers@goodwill-suncoast.com.